Shadow and Substance
by Isabella Raven
Summary: A story of grief and sorrow inspired by a sad song. A nightmare that one boys wakes from to find it is real. A man's grief, and what happens when it is let loose.


Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. 

**Shadow and Substance**

A scream of loss echoed out across the moors of Yorkshire, a cry of pure, unadulterated grief. A man knelt beside the body of a woman, her eyes wide and staring blankly at the sky, shock written on her face. Another howl echoed through the night, chilling those who heard it to the bone, and making them check their doors and windows to make sure they were locked and barred.   
  
A dangerous predator stalked through the night, intent on death, his eyes feral and angry, no forgiveness for anyone or anything that got in his path. He followed the scent of another through the night, his teeth bared in a snarl. "I'll chase you to the ends of the earth, if that is what it takes." His voice was a growl, a low snarl that dared anyone who heard it to annoy the man now. Death would come with unalloyed fury and violence.   
  
A large dog fell in beside the man, looking up at him with a question in its blue eyes. It bared its teeth in a lazy, predatory grin as the man looked back, the answer in his eyes. The two loped across the moors towards a grand house, neither caring about the alarms and traps sprung along the way. There was nothing that would stop or divert them from their deadly purpose.   
  
A rat of a man cowered in fear, as his master looked down at him in contempt. He could hear the angry howl of a werewolf outside, and prayed his master would protect him. When he saw the wand leveled at him, he began to grovel, and beg. "No, master! Please, I have been a faithful servant, a good servant. Master, please, I beg you, spare me!" His voice was the same terrified squeak of a rat.   
  
A blond man stood beside an old, powerful wizard he called master. He looked down at the man grovelling to his master, and sneered. The former Gryffindor was nothing more than a rat, and a pawn of the most powerful dark lord to ever exist. And his purpose was served. He smirked as he savored the thought of that little cretin being killed.   
  
A pair of red eyes narrowed, and a scaly, dangerous hand levelled a wand at the pathetic creature in front of him. A ripple of amusement passed through him as his puppet begged for his life. Not that it would save him. It had never saved anybody. He hissed out two words, just as the doors burst open. He ended the life of the pale thing before the werewolf and his companion could take their revenge.   
  
An explosion shattered the quiet of the night, and a young man woke with a raw scream of negation. Tears gathered in dark green eyes as the scene replayed itself in his head. Two men, one thin, and visibly aging, the other younger, and stronger in body, facing off against a red-eyed monster. Curses flying thick and heavy, no one escaping unscathed. No one dead, yet, except the pudgy man sprawled on the floor.   
  
A trap sprung, the look of horror on one face, the pale grey eyes widening, the blond man whipping around to try and stop the unstoppable. No escape, for any of them. An explosion to light the night like day, destroying everything within a mile of the center. No bodies to retrieve, everything that close vaporized down to bedrock.   
  
A school shocked by the news, one blond boy shaking his head, denying the truth before his eyes. Pale grey eyes look up to meet dark green, and something snaps. A shrill wail, from a source no one expects, a wail of rage, of grief. One boy, almost a man, stalks out of the hall, his eyes silver with tears as he goes down to his room. No one expects what he does.   
  
A funeral, for someone who shouldn't have died, for someone who deserved to die, for someone with nothing left to live for, for someone who hadn't wanted it all to end, for someone already dead inside, for someone who'd never truly lived. 

***   
  
Sirius Black   
Godfather   
  
***   
  
Voldemort   
Evil Incarnate   
  
***   
  
Remus Lupin   
Mentor and Friend   
  
***   
  
Peter Petigrew   
Traitor   
  
***   
  
Lucius Malfoy   
Death Eater   
  
***   
  
Draco Malfoy   
A Lost Soul 


End file.
